Whitfield County, GA Home Business: Signage Rules (2026)

Section 16-4(13) of the Sign Regulations lets a lot with a home occupation, defined and permitted under the Unified Zoning Ordinance, display one sign advertising it, so long as the sign is non-illuminated and no larger than four square feet. That limit applies within the GA (General Agricultural), SA (Suburban Agricultural), and R-1 through R-7 residential zoning districts; the code lists them as 'GA, SA, R-1, R-2, R-3, R-4, R-5, R-6 or R-71,' the last entry a printed reference to the R-7 district. If the home occupation instead sits on a lot zoned for something other than those residential and agricultural categories, for example a C-1 commercial parcel with a live-in owner, Section 16-4(13) lifts the four-square-foot cap and allows whatever sign Chapter 16 otherwise permits for that district.

Every home occupation sign, regardless of district, must still observe the setback rules in Section 16-3(1), keeping the sign at least ten feet from a right-of-way and clear of any intersection sight triangle, and must comply with the underlying zoning approval for the home occupation itself under the Unified Zoning Ordinance's home-occupation article. Because the sign cannot be illuminated, an internally lit or backlit sign face of any size would violate the section even if it otherwise met the four-square-foot limit.